Welcome to football Today. Wednesday, January first, twenty twenty five. Welcome to the new year. Welcome to football today. I'm bobys seeing from here with Justin Pennock. And guess what we're gonna do New Year. We're gonna talk about people who should be fired.
Shue geeesh.
I recommend you to be fired. I've already went to Jimmy O'Brien otherwise known as John Boy, and I hope you get fired. How are you?
This is our NFL Black Monday preview, Bobby Skinner and everybody listening. I hope you had a happy New Year. Yeah. So what we're gonna do is, we're gonna break this down into a couple different categories. We're going to talk about the coaching and GM vacancies that are already open. So there's three of those. Uh, We're gonna break it down also into four categories of there's going to be coaches and gms that will probably be fired on Black Monday.
Whose seed is red hot? How about whose seed is warm? Whose seat do we think is lukewarm? And then whose job is basically safe? Who is on the cool side of things? Out of all the coaches and possible gms that could be fired. We're going to talk about almost all of them. I will say my one little caveat I I don't know the inner workings of every team's GM position, but most teams are more ept and willing
to fire head coaches anyway rather than gms. And I think we have a pretty good idea of what head coaches and gms may be going.
Yeah, and I have opinions on some of these gms as well too. So what do you want to start off with? The open the open seats right now of the Bears, Saints, and Jets.
Yeah, let's let's do that. So the Jets they fired their head coach Robert Saal, they fired Joe Douglas in the middle of the season, and I'll be honest getting a little excited about Rex Ryan. I don't have like specific names or or like a wish list for the Jets, even though I don't think it's as as terrible of a job as as people maybe make it seem to think.
But I don't know, man, I feel like dealing with Woody Johnson is like the stuff that comes out, and I know Jets fans will push back and say, oh, this, Well, there's clearly very dysfunctional issues there. You're gonna have to make a decision on Aaron Rodgers. And even if you do decide to move on, what's your answer at that position? To me, this this is an undesirable spot, despite the fact that that roster does have a good amount of
talent and young talent on it. I do find this as an undesirable spot, and I have no clue what direction they want to go. But they have, I mean, they have sort of interviewing people because they're you know, open and available. You know, they had you know, Jim Nagy of the Senior Bowl, you know the old Falcons GM, then you know head coaching Ron Rivera, you know Rex Ryan Rumors. So they haven't been able to start interviewing
like the actual good candidates yet. But I just really have no clue where which way it's going to go, because Woody Johnson's at very unpredictable.
Yeah, the Woody Johnson side of it. I was mainly thinking of the rosher because you have a possible future left tackle that they drafted last year in Olu who's shown kind of flashes this year. You have Breeze Hall, you have Brylan Allen. You have Garrett Wilson, where if Aaron Rodgers has moved on from I mean, this is the report that you know was put out there that if Aaron Rodgers stays, Garrett Wilson will request the trade.
And if he's gone, then yeah, that is true. You could be like, no, you're going, You're on the New York Jets. You're going to play here, which I respect NFL teams kind of doing this pass offseason like the Bengals on the forty nine ers Davante Adams and his contract is he's still here. I don't think he's washed, so I mean that's that's even.
Still he's still there, but he's not part of the long term plan.
There right right, But he's still there, you know. And of course you have Quentin Williams is one of the best interior defenders. You have Will McDonald that took a step up and he's actually getting sacks and he's actually looking really good. You have one of the best linebacker groups in the NFL with like three good linebackers, and then you also have Sauce Gardner in a solid set Canary and you know, guys that are you're probably gonna have to resign or bring back or negotiate with. But
I mean this, regardless of the owner. The owner is a huge part of if a GM or a coach would want to take a job, for sure, But I don't know how you can look at that roster and not get a little excited about what if you're a coach and you're confident in your abilities, or if you're a GM and your confident in your abilities, how can you not maybe look at that be like I can maybe do something with it. Well?
Sure, but again, like we're not talking about just typical bad ownership group. We're talking about whatoy Johnson might be the worst owner. Yeah in the NFL, right, the only one that could maybe argue with that is Dave Tepper. And it's not to mean there there's other bad owners, right, there's I think there's a bad owner in the same city as them. But there is a different level to the Woody Johnson part of this and the quarterback what's
the where's the quarterback answer coming for them? Because it's probably it's not coming out of this draft because of that roster talent. You don't see them bottoming out. You know, what do you do with Aaron Rodgers, like, there's just to me, it's not a it's not it's not if I had my choice of this, I'm not. That's not where I'm picking. I also just here's the other parts. I don't Trustody Johnson to make the right decision either, even if even if he does have good candidates that
are willing to go there. I want Rex Ryan Beck, which is again that's like, that's a horrible hire, right, it's going back to glory days of making to the AFC Championships with Mark Sanchez. That that again, I people have tried to rule that out and Jets slaying I fall a lot of the Jets people and people I like, you know, Connor Hughes, the bad Lands guys, some other
ones they like don't even want to entertain it. But I'm telling you that Woody Johnson will entertain that because that has been there, that has been their most successful. He's you know, Rex Ryan has you know, been on a little bit of a tour trying to get back in there. I expect it to be something like that. So I don't I don't have a lot of faith in that organization as a whole. Let's talk about the Saint stuff, because actually think the Saints are fascinating. Mickey
Loomis has been their GM since two thousand too. They continuously just keep pushing the cap back and back and back and just been in the no man's land since Drew Brees left. Does this ownership group ever say we're done with this and like it's time it's time to start afresh.
At least not yet, Like what what's the path forward?
What is the path forward for the New Orleans Saints?
I don't know, like at least with the Jets. You know, I mentioned the roster, and you know I mentioned like, oh, well, you have Woody Johnson and the dynamic of the owner and like bringing in like a restaurant. I have no idea where they go.
And I think the Saints don't have a terrible roster either, right. The offensive line, uh, you know has have struggles at a time, but you have young guys that you like on there. You know, Chris o'lave is a really good piece. He's just been so super health. You know, a lot of health issues, concussions. Defensively, there's good talent, not a lot on the front there, even though you know a guy like Brian Berzi. But I don't think that roster is super far off. I think that defense is capable
of being good in the here and now. And but again, another quarterback, you know, dependent situation, what like what are they gonna do? And Mickey Loomis has shown that he's not gonna go the right way about this. I mean, they paid Derek Carr a lot of money there, They paid Derek Carr a lot of money to do to do what you know exactly there. You know, I think they lacked death at a lot of issues. It's just
when will the Saints decide that? And and this could be Mickey Loomis too, that we're gonna stop pushing this stuff down the road and we're going to try and reset and put together like a four year plan here.
They would need to be bad for like one or like and I'm talking bad bad for like one or two years to fully get back into a healthy cap situation though.
Yeah, which I think they need to embrace at this point because they're stuck in that. They're stuck in not even they're barely stuck in the middle, they're in the stuck in below average.
So then you're going to hire a new head coach who you're gonna be willingly understanding, is going to be bad for his first two years. So that's why I think they're just going to keep doing what they're doing, which isn't great. But that's why it's like what you know, Chris Rose and I talked about who's the most boring NFL team even if they're not the worst. Right, the
Saints are not the worst team in the NFL. But in terms of and Bobby, I know you're not like a big storyline guy or intrigue guye, but like, really, the Saints are the worst team in the NFL to try and like pay attention to, like, you have to convince me to want to pay attention to the Saints, and you did for the first three weeks of the season. Remember they were like the best team ever.
Yeah, they're put averaging forty five points per game. I like that defense going into this year, and I think if things didn't fall apart from them overall, that defense still would be good. Yeah, but you know, the offense just became a mess with one having Derek Carr, the offensive line didn't perform the same way. The run game hasn't been great in and then krys Olavey or she he'd get injured.
Yeah, let's talk about the Bears.
Yeah, the Bears. So this is the one where usually I'd be kind of against this, but it seems like they're because everyone wants Ben Johnson. It seems like they're the team that might actually attract Ben Johnson and Ben Johnson wants to go there and work because they do have a good amount of talent on that roster, not most talented. Usually I would be clear cut saying, like fire Ryan Poles. It's been three years, you're fining the
head coach that he came in with. This is not a great situation to try and attract a head coach. But it seems like there's real smoke with Ben Johnson there where. I don't think Ryan Poles has done a terrible job. I don't think he's done a very good job.
I think he's had some big mistake but I think he's had some big wins too that I am actually okay with them keeping Ryan Poles where I usually would be against this situation, but at the same time, justin they could also probably still get Ben Johnson and reset the new GM and get someone that's a little more on the same page. So to me, it's for the Bears.
It should be like whoever their number one candidate is, and it's probably gonna Ben Johnson, Like I think it should be Ben Johnson or Bust and they should work back channels to figure out is he If he's willing to come here with Ryan Poles, then then well we'll stay with Bryan Poles. If not, if he has even any doubts about that, then I'm canning Ryan Poles and I'm going to cann Ryan Poles, though.
I was exactly going to ask you, are you Ben Johnson or Bust? Or could you even buy into Ryan Poles and Brian Flores went to Boston College together, and Brian Flores could come over there from the other AFC NFC North team.
If that's their number one candidate, right if they if they identify as their number one candidate and Brian Flores is willing to do that, then yes, like they they are. They they should be. They should be the number one spot for a GM and head coach right that to me, they have the most attractive spot in all of these positions. And unless the Dallas Cowboys open up, yeah, like they they're gonna have another top draft pick. They have young players,
Caleb Williams. I'm sure a lot of teams, you know, guys still have belief in him. There's players that maybe not performing the way that you want this year that will be better down the road. I know Dj Moore has kind of become a little bit of a sour spot, but he's still a wide receiver one. In my opinion, Romo Dunes that like and and the defense I think is a few nice pieces away from still being a top top group.
Yeah.
So so I like the Bears. The Bears should be the most desired vacancy in the so my if I were the Bears, I would just let's make sure Ryan Poles is not taking that part away from us.
Yeah, unless there's like a surprise, surprise opening. And I'm talking about you know, like a Kyle Shanahan or a Zach Taylor, which you know, hey, we we have four categories spoiler or I have I have Zach Taylor and Kyle Shanahan under the cool category that I think they're very safe unless one of those jobs open up. The Bears, I think is the most is the most desirable, it's the only the only thing is that you have that
you have that GM. But I figure you're gonna be given two years no matter what, maybe even three no matter what because you have Caleb and you.
Have they're very patient too, so you're most likely going to get three. Yeah. The issue is you may have to hire a new GM one year in because of how they get off.
They're gonna no, I don't think.
I don't think they would do that. The polls. No. All right, so let's get into the possible vacancies justin. What do we want to start with? First?
Uh, let's go to the warm section. But before we do that, Bobby Skinner, I want to talk about hot. Uh no, we're not. We are not passing over red hot. So let's talk about red hot and then I'll talk about something red hot. I have two names I have for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I have Doug Peterson and I have Trent balk the head coach at GM. I think it's obvious that they're out. And I have Giants head
coach Brian Dable. I think those are two names or two you know teams that those positions are absolutely red hot.
Yeah. Absolutely, Obviously the Giants were a lot closer to but the Jags. I mean, I think a lot of people are surprised that these guys haven't been fired yet, correct. I mean, there was there was rumors that, like Doug Peterson's last game was going to be whatever. I can't remember what game.
It was, the London game or one of the London games.
That yeah, and yeah, I think it was like after the first London game where it's like, yeah, they just maybe they're not firing him because they don't want to do it while they're in London, so they're gonna wait till they come back to beautiful Jacksonville and do it. But I think we all agree there. But at the same time, I don't trust the cons like they may keep Trent Balky.
Yeah, he's he's been there since twenty twenty one. His overall record as GM is twenty five and forty two, but his team he had.
Two seasons seasons and then two basically worse records in the NFL.
And he's won and one in the playoffs. And that you know, that year came in twenty twenty two, where that's the year that Trevor Lawrence obviously looked his best. That was the first year with Doug Peterson. You know, I don't know, man, I just I don't like the I don't like the roster of that ball. He's built that the defense is solid, and some of the draft
picks have have kind of worked. But look at the offensive side of the ball and tell me outside of the free agents that they've brought in and Brian Thomas Junior, who have they drafted. That's like a true difference maker for them. I think everything has been like trades and free agent signings for them. I don't think he drafts very well.
No, no, now he got a great hit. Like you said, I'm Brian Thomas Jr. Yeah, I don't either. And I kind of hate the way that they draft, where they're just like give me length, length and strength instead of just like finding good players.
Now works for Brian Thomas, make the strength.
Yeah, But at the same time, Brian Thomas had great family. I thought it was just like one little thing away from becoming an elite player too. I just still surprised that Brian Thomas fell that far, even if there was some red flags. Just like, that's a good film and he's six ' three and runs really fucking fast. So like what what's what's what's the hold up here? So yeah,
and then with Doug Peterson, I don't hate Doug. I just I think some of the same issues in Philly are popping up where too many cooks in the kitchen? Is he is he a leader of men, like it's just falling apart and he's I think he's a solid offensive mine, but I don't think he's a great offensive mine. And I think he gets too stuck in some of the stuff that he's doing, like forced reeting, even ingram or whatever whatever it could be, instead of trying to
involve it. But I don't I don't hate Peterson. I mean, the guy won a Super Bowl, but it just feels like they have to start over there. But if they if they fire Doug Peterson and not Balky though, Jacks fans should be I rate yeah, like there should there should be I'll join you. I'm like two hours south of you. I'll join you. Like there needs to be mass protests outside, you know, rip that you know, Jaguars statue down or something.
Yeah, I I I put it as as red hot thinking that they're that they're both gone. But if there's a chance, if there's even a chance that Balky stays that should not that should not be the case when you just extended, when you just extended Trevor Lawrence, and you're coming off of a four and twelve season, and the AFC South, like AFC South, there's nowhere near where we thought the AFC South could possibly be. The Titans were not a frisky team like we thought that they
could be. The Colts were bad, you know, they they just missed the playoffs, and the Texans are extremely vulnerable this year even though they have a good record. So this was this could have been a year where the Jaguars could have been like, all right, well we're in the playoffs and we're here and we're doing something. And instead it's the opposite.
For also, something that's come back to, like you have the first overall pick and you say you're gonna take Trayvon Walker. Oh, the traits, the trades, bet on the trades and whenever, and when the film is clear, like, hey, Aiden Hutchinson's a lot better than this, you know. And then Sausa Gardner and Stingley, you know, Sauce was my number one corner in that draft. Stingley was there but he had some issues I had worried about, Like, but we were just like Trayvon Walker can't be the correct
pick here, like Aiden Hutchinson should be it. And you see, I know he got injured, but Aiden Hutchinson thriving. And then Travon Walker is just kind of the same thing he was at George even though he does get some.
Sacks, but double digit tackles back, that's that's a that's a huge whiff on their part in my opinion, but compared to the other guys, like it's it's a mess.
And then the Giants. The Giants year three, they're three and thirteen. Uh there, you know we've we broke down thirty minutes on our most recent Talking Giants podcast. But it seems like they're going to escape. Go Brian Dable. They want to keep Joe Shane because they like to give gms a long leash and don't want to turn over everything that you have to turn over when you get a new GM. They should be firing Joe Shane justin Joe Shane has done a terrible job building this roster.
His resume after three years. If they do fire Brian Dable is going to be bad roster, no quarterback, failed head coach. That's a that's as bad as and worst record in the NFL. That's as bad as a resume as there is if you get a quarterback at sick. But I don't know why people are just granting him that he's going to get this quarterback, especially when he gave you know, eighty two million dollars guaranteed to Daniel Jones. So Joe Shane should absolutely be fired, but it seems
like Brian Dable's going to be the one to go. Dable, I think there's a chance he gets another opportunity in the NFL. I think there's a he can be a good head coach. He won Coach of the Year a couple of years ago, but with a bad roster, no quarterback, I think his issues rise to the top, right, lack of attention to detail, you know, not being too much of a player's coach, where you know, there's a culture of letting shit slide there, which I'm going to use
with uh, you know the Colts in the second. But he's out, yeah, listen to let's get it, Yeah, let's get let's get to warm, because I think that's what the conversations are happening, but why don't you talk to us about something?
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You'll be glad you did. Let's talk about warm, justin who we have in this category.
Yeah, So, I think this is where we start to get a little bit different. I have two names in my warm category. I'm confident in the first one, not so confident the second one. I have Antonio Pierce's seat as warm, and I also have the Patriots Drawdmeo's seat as warm.
I also put the Colts in there, and I want to talk about the Colts because that's where we differ.
And I have Shane Steiken and Chris Ballard as.
Luke Warm agreed, and I think Chris Ballard is the key there. He's been there since twenty seventeen. There have a sixty one and sixty nine record, haven't made the playoffs since twenty twenty. Has gotten an opportunity to after quarterback and Anthony Richardson, which has failed pretty pretty miserably. Even though there's talent there where you still have like a little bit of hope for him. I do want to talk about the Shane Steike in part of this. I think I think they've got a clean house. I
think they've messed this up. I think they need a total cultural h you know shift there. Pat McAfee, you know, had a long post talking about it. It's time for a change in Indianapolis.
I just don't think Ji Mersey like that's a tough decision for a team. And I think Shane Steichen through his first two years is going to finish seventeen and seventeen with borderline below average and at times quarterback.
Play, yeah, bad quarterback play. Here's the thing with Stiking. I think Stiking can be a really good coach in the NFL. The issues, I think there's a culture of letting shit slide. You know, you saw that with some of the Pat McAfee stuff, mishandling of the quarterback spot. And here's the thing we always got to remind ourselves with offense coaches, there's more to the job than being an offensive play caller. There's a lot more to the job.
And what was my big thing on why I didn't rank Shane Stike in high in the our coach rankings this offseason.
Because he kept Gus Bradley.
Keeping Gus Bradley is a sin. It's not a bad decision, it was a.
Sin against the Giants where they dropped forty five on you.
And you point back playoffs and to the Chris Ballard point. Keeping Gus Bradley with this defense, this defensive talent is terrible. It's terrible. You've you've You've drafted guys who are athletes who have bad football instincts. You know, if I have to, I can't believe Nick Cross is still playing for that team. He's the worst instincts I've ever seen for NFL safety. But boy is he athletic. I I think you you have to let go of Chris Ballard and you can't
keep Shange Steiking. But here's what I'll say. I think Shane Stikeen becomes one of the becomes a head coach for another team next year if they do clean house here. And I think that's the reason why they may not do this is because they don't want to lose Shane steik In. But I think Shane Steiken kind of if you get the right quarterback in here, nice. But I think Shane steichen himself may need a quick reset and learn from his mistakes and not have a GM who's
forcing him to keep a defensive court. And again, Shane Stikeen inherited Gus Bradley, so that was something from the organization to keep him. And then you have a bad year and he doesn't fire him, like I don't care what if I want. I think Shane steike In probably would be better off in a different situation. And that's why the Jags or the Colts may stay the course here. But it seems like there's it's really a time for change in Annianapolis.
Like you know, our guy Dalton Philly is a Colts fan. You know, he put out a long tweet after you know, he was there for that loss. He sat with me in my seats, was there for that loss against the Giants. And there are certain moves that he's like even for going back at the quarterback position that Chris ballad has made where he kind of attributed to like the Carson Wentz trade, kind of attributed that that was like a that was like a Jim Ersay move, and the Matt
Ryan trade, well that was a Chris Ballard move. And hey, that's familiar for me, and I think it's familiar if you're a fan of a specific team. I don't think
that's a foreign concept. Where if you have an owner stepping in that maybe wants to make a move or wants you to be aggressive and a GM is more hesitant, or you have a GM that is more aggressive with a certain move, so you know there's there's imbalance there where there are some moves that it's a Jim Ersay move, where it's a Frank Reich move, and then you have other things that are Chris Ballard moves and Chris Ballard decisions and and things like that. So there seems to
be in balance there. I don't know. Man, Like I look at this offensive line and I say, this is it's still a damn good offensive line. And we know that Ballard can get guys in here, and like, these are guys that are drafting the second third and Day three of the draft that can start and can play for you. It's a pass rush that is decent. It's
not great, it's not good. I don't think there's any above average players, but it's a good to solid pass rush in the in the NFL today, so I look at it as you get you get Gus Bradley outing, you have to fire Gus Bradley, you have to get Gus Bradley out, you get a different defensive coordinator in there. I think the moves that Anthony Rigson made sure it's the second half the season is somewhat promising where he could be your quarterback week one. It just sucks that
he gets injured and shit like that. But I think that they run it back with what they got.
I think they end up what this ends up ends up being, is they just push everything back of the year and that we're in the same situation. I think they're in the same exact situation next year.
Yeah. I would just find it would just be a shame that this coach that's seventeen and seventeen after two years with awful quarterback play. I would say at times it's been average, but more more or less awful quarterback play with a defensive coordinator that seems like it was forced upon him. It would be a shame if that coach is fired after two years.
I agree, listen, I agree with that point of it, but it's time. It's time for a reset, because what they're doing is they're just pushing this back a year like they're not again Chris Ballat. I don't think it's done a horrible job, but he certainly isn't. This team that's brimming with talent, and it's just, oh my god, it needs to be harnessed or we need to get
the quarterback. I think it's a really good offensive play caller with some good offensive talent, no quarterback, and a defense with a to me which is clearly lacking a lot of talent. I also think they made he made a horrible decision by taking law too as the first defensive player off the board in this most recent draft, when I thought Jared Vers was a clearly better player.
They could have added Kenyon Mitchell if they wanted to go dB, and they went for the older, you know, injury prone cross chop edge who can be a solid player and I think will be, but not going to be the impact that those guys are. So I think it's time for a change to the other one. The Patriots and Raiders both would be one and done's with Jerrod Mayo and Antonio Appears. And I'll say this with Antonio appears, He's four and twelve this year, five and
fours as an interim head coach last year. I think he's had missteps along the way. I mean had the fire basically his entire offensive staff middle of the year, and then bringing the Turner Northern Scott Turner. I'm not pulling the plug on this yet. I think if you hired this guy this this team lacks so much talent. We said it last year. It's like they are relying so much on defensive coaching that that's just hard to do. And then offensively like they just they have a terrible
quarterback situation. I'm not pulling the plug on this. I'd at least at least like to see him. Maybe you keep the Turners here for next year, figure out what you're gonna do at quarterback, and you know, and just continue that talent. Right. You added Brock Bauers last year, we went best best player available. A lot of people probably mocked that, and guess what you've got to me
the best rookie performance of the year. So continue to attack the draft with the best player available mindset, and you give Antonio Peers in this staff another year, I think it'd be a shame for the roster with this talent to pull the plug on the head coach because I don't think there's I don't think there's many head coaches who get this team more than five six wins.
Yeah, there are some pros and cons of Antonio Pierce. I think the biggest con is that there just may be better upgrades out there. There may be better upgrades that want to come to the Las Vegas Raiders.
I agree, but then you shouldn't have. You shouldn't have bought into the interim head coach hiring thing last year, which again I don't think they should have, but if you did, you need to at least stick that through this through two years.
Another con is that even though after he fired the offense coordinator, the quarterback coach, and the offensive line coach, the offense did get better. Scott Turner his offense coordinators a pseudo worked. I mean, you know, you with with with the quarterback play, with the offensive line play. The run game has been horrible to kind of start the year. It's gotten a little bit better with the mirr Abdula.
Out of all people shout out Nebraska, you know, so I guess you could say, well, it's good consolation that the kind of the people that he brought in in the second half got a little bit better. But also now those are three very important positions that he now needs to find, and you know, getting a staff together as a head coach is a very important thing. But the pros for Antonio Piers, I think Mark Davis may be tired of the constant turnover a ton of head coaches.
In a span of a decade. There were thirteen players on IR and a good amount of them were contributes, especially on the defensive side of the ball. So that's I think he stays. I would put his seat as warm. Players have kind of showed up for him and played well, and I do think I just think that I do think that by this time next year, Antonio Peers is going to be fired. That's kind of why I would just kind of do it now. But you did kind of make your bed. They may lie in it.
But I think Antonio Piers can work as an NFLI head cards. This isn't someone I think is totally He's made mistakes along the way, right, some immaturity early in the season with the whole Devonte Adams part of this, But I think he is trying to build a culture there, and like, you can't give him a roster that's just not talented, And then like, well, why didn't you do more than this? Like if they had won one to two games, which this roster was capable of winning one
two games, then maybe maybe you're there. But I'm giving Antonio Pierce another year now. Another guy who I'm not going to give another year is the Patriots and girod Mayo worst record in the NFL three and thirteen. The other part of this is that they don't have a true GM, even though Elliott Wolf is their de facto GM. But this organization needs a reset. Okay, they are too reliant on the crafts. The crafts are smelling themselves, and they have hired puppets for them. You know, girod Mao
has clearly been that for them. You know, they didn't do a coaching search, they just hired him, you know, the day or whatever after they Bill Belichick was gone. I hate one and done. But this defense has fallen off without Bills, which was something that people try to just write in like, well, the Patriots had a good defense. Well they're also losing the greatest defensive mind the NFL has ever seen the best head coach of all time and Bill Belichick, Uh, he doesn't handle the day to
day stuff well at all. I think he hasn't built a good culture. I think he's thrown people under the bus. And when you have a guy like Drake may you need the offensive coach to go with him. I'm out on Draw Mayo. I think he should be a one and done. And you talk about Antonio Pierce, maybe not should be the hired last year, Fine, but at least you had something to go off with it. Draw Mayo was.
We didn't. We didn't even look at other candidates. We just we just hired him and didn't even think about hiring anybody else because we thought this was a you know, plan and waiting type thing. So yeah, I want you Mayo out there. I think New England deserves a lot better. But I also think the Crafts need to stop smelling themselves and realize they're not the reason for all those championships and they need to put someone in place who's going to run everything. There.
Vibes are weird there, you know, with the whole Then this is the second time or this has happened this year where there's pregame reports of and I think the first time this happened it was the Dolphins game where the Patriots were home playing the Dolphins. Ramadre Stevenson is being bench for Antonio Gibson. Okay, Ramadre Stevenson then goes out against the Dolphins and has a great game and has more carries and more touches. We here on NFL Network this past Sunday were with our own very own
Chris Rose. Antonio Gibson's going to get the start, first couple of plays of the game. Romadre Stevenson's getting the ball. What's going on? What's going on? Grod Mayo after the game is asked about it. Coach's decision. Bro, you're the coach, man, Like you're the coach, how was gonna at your explanation? Coach's decision? And like you're the coach, you don't have anything to say on it. We were there in training camp to Bobby and I kind of hate to use this.
Practices were horrible. They got very little accomplish There is a lot of standing around, and we were literally able to compare it because they were having a joint practice with the Eagles. So it's not like, Okay, this is just what NFL teams do, you know, NFLPA the rules, blah blah blah. We're watching one team, the Philadelphia Eagles, a good football team. Practice, be active, they're talking, they're communicating, they're they're constantly drilling. There's constant coaching going on with
the coaches and players and bah blah blah. And then we see the Patriots on the other side and they're standing around. They're standing around, And compare that to our giants, which we see every year. We think Brian Dable, If Brian Dable runs a country club practice, I don't know what Geron Mao runs. And then whenever they make a mistake, he has them running laps for fifteen minutes, which takes away from the practice time that you only get an hour and a half every day anyway. So, yeah, the
vibes are weird there. Obviously, if you're hey, if you're gonna say the talent's not good for the for the Las Vegas Raiders, the talent is certainly not good.
But it's better and they've resigned a lot of those defensive players they've resigned, you know, and we're not going the talent's.
Better defensive maybe maybe in new way it is better.
And again it's guys that they resigned. We're not talking about guys who are maybe a little better, but they're here, Like they resigned half that defense before the season. I know they lost bear more and but you know they yeah, they traded Judah, but they got Gonzalez back, who's a real deal corner like that, that team is a better team with Belichick and and having may But again.
Their problems also extend way past Drawd Mayo because this year's they showed this year's draft class like side by side, but the Chargers draft class, and and you know, think of how barren that Chargers roster was. And they even showed that trade where the Lodd mcconkee trade where it's like, oh my god, and it was trade they did the trade with the Patriots where it was like, oh my god, like this is.
This is a horrible, horrible.
Draft class that you just produced outside of Drake may horrible.
Yeah, and just a horrible planet offensive line going into the season. Uh Now, I think the Patriots are a team that should be trying to make a run at Ben Johnson as well too.
No way he would want to know why not.
Why not come in there with the new GM. They again, they.
They're not going to get a new GM.
But I think that's a mistake on their on there. They're not because because I think they have enough to They're gonna have the there's the most look of the first overall pick that they could they could have Drake May maybe either the best player in the draft or you know, multiple picks. I think that's a spot that I can get them. So any so we hit Warm, Lukewarm, I got the Browns and Cowboys. Who do you got?
Yeah? So I again, I put Lukewarm as Shane Stiken and Chris Ballard. I only had two. I only had two names as my Warm, which was the Raiders and the Pats. So my Lukewarm, I have three more people. I have Mike McCarthy, I have Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry kind of like that package deal in Cleveland there head coaching GM, and I also have Todd Bowls and we'll talk about that. But where do you want to start?
I want to talk about the Cowboys. They shouldn't fire Mike McCarthy, correct, I mean you went seven to nine this year, missing Dak you didn't add any talent this offseason. You went twelve and five three years in a row. You didn't fire them after last year's playoff debacle. You lost Dan Quinn, the defense was injured all year. I think he's done a pretty bang up job with that what he was dealt with this year.
I want to check where they are defensively in EPA per play because because Ron Rivera seems like a decent higher they're they're twenty eighth, but they're yeah, they're they're they're so bad personnel life there. Oh what did I say, Mike, Mike Zimmer, That's what I'm sorry, Excuse me, Yeah, twenty eighth and EPA per play, but they're all it's their Their past defense is actually decent, above average. They're just so bad run defense wise, But I think that's a
personnel issue. I don't know. I'm not necessarily going to really put all of them on make zimber. They're just so bad interior. You know, they lost Michael park Is for a good Man of the Year. Their interior defensive line is horrible. Mozzie Smith is a complete bust. Their linebacker situation has not been great. I think they've lost to marve On overshown to another season ending injury when he was having a solid year. So yeah, that personnelage
just really, really bad. So the only case, the only case in which I see Mike McCarthy maybe leaving, And you brought this up, but I don't think. I think Jerry Jones is loyal and sometimes loyal to a fault, right. The only case in which Mike McCarthy leaves is if there is another sexy name that comes in and you've talked about this, Bobby.
I thought they were going to be the Bill spot. I wanted Bill. I wanted Bill there. Once Bill went off the market, I said, doubt Cowboys, SA.
Bill's not off the market. Bill Belichick is not off the market.
He has eight million dollar buyout.
He doesn't want to be in un sing. He wants a son to get that UNC job. That's what he wants. Bill Belichick wants to be in the NFL. I cannot see Bill Belichick sitting in a seventeen and eighteen year old house in doing this a lot.
I don't know why everyone says that acts like Bill Belichick doesn't like the grimy parts of the jobs. The guy in his off here took ten media jobs and the guy had no interest in doing media when he was a coach.
Okay, that's different.
That's so here's the thing is let Bill go and you and that's I think it's another reason why to keep McCarthy go again next year if Bill wants, if you want to buy out Bill at that point, then you can move off of McCarthy. But unless you know that, they're what what else did you want Mike McCarthy to do with all the circumstances he was done with this year.
And they fought and they didn't you know, they fought and Dak went down and they started winning more games and started the Ceedee Lamb is still banged up in the running back situation is terrible. Yeah, So that's why I put him as as lukewarm. Were originally a couple of weeks ago or even earlier, earlier in the season, he's warm or even red hot, but now he's down to luke warm. I I just don't think there's enough buzz. I know, his contracts up, so they need to negotiate
a contract no matter what. But I think that's going to be more or less on does Mike McCarthy want to come back because I think Jerry Jones would want him to come back, right, And if you're Mike McCarthy, where else do you want to go?
Noh, Mike McCarthy's not going to It's either Mike McCarthy gets fired.
Or were Likeking retires. He's not going to retire.
Yeah, not fired, but like intentionally the boys just said I'd go away. Yeah, all right, let's see what else the Browns. Here's the thing with the Browns. Stefanasy has been forty and forty three as a head coach, two winning seasons in a playoff win that goes a long way in Cleveland. The Deshaun Watson contract and acquisition is the worst decision ever made in NFL history. Yes, but here's the issue is I'm actually making them live with it for a little bit because you have to deal
with this for the next two years. So like that's what's going to be sexy about this job, to come and deal with it. Well, you got to deal with this Deshaun Watson contract for two years.
After covering the Browns knowing that, Oh I'm knowing that.
Yeah, be it terrible. So I'm I'm just keeping them for another year just because it's like, I'm making you you two live with this that sucks man.
That like if if I'm a Browns fan and like, and I feel like as just an NFL fan, anybody that had anything to do with that Deshaun Watson decision needs to be fired because I don't care. I don't care the roster that you've built, I don't care what your past success is. I'm even mad at Kevin Stefanski from going away from his identity as a head coach where he used to be. We're gonna, you know, he used to be almost like forty nine ers in Baltimore Ravens.
If we're gonna run the damn ball and we're gonna be aggressive, and that's what that's our identity. And then they trade for Watson and it's like, all right, well now we're now we're an eleven personnel team and we're gonna take away any any kind of foundational identity that we had as a team. We're taking it away now, all for this guy who sucks. So I want anybody who was associated with that decision, I want them fired.
But me too, But like I said, I'm kind of punishing them by making them live with that.
Yeah, and what is the new guy gonna do? What is a new guy gonna come in and do? Yeah, you gotta live with it for another year.
And you do with like what the Texans did, where you get a GM like, hey, this is a five year plan. Let's get a David Coley Lovey Smith type head coach to deal with this for two years and then well, if it's if he surprised us sick. If not, we'll fire him and then you'll get a head coaching higher man. But even then, like, I'm just kind of making them live with this. Uh cool, what I didn't put any whoa whoa go ahead?
We got to talk about Todd Bowles, and it's very simple for me. I like Todd Bowles. I think he's actually done a very good job of even when Dave Canalis left this past.
Year, I think he's better than Dave Canalis.
Hired an offense coordinator who i've Liam Cohen, who I view as better than Dave Canals, even though Canals is doing a good job in Carolina. But a guy that's better than Dave Canalis because he has a run game that's better and you know, helping out Baker Mayfield on early downs and Liam Cohen's done a really good job of dealing with adversity when it comes to injuries on
his offense, and Baker continues to look good. So if you don't want to lose Liam Cohen, which I you know, maybe you could trust Todd Bowles and you you were mentioned to me before the show that Bruce Arians is still like in that front office.
Yeah they're not. They're not doing that if Bruce Arians is still working there.
But you know, just plucking these you can't offensive coordinators like this don't necessarily just grow on trees. Do they make the decision to let Todd Bowles go because you don't want to lose Liam Collen.
They did that. This same GM did that Jason Lake with fired Lovey Smith and kept Dirt Cutter and upgraded him after James's rookie year. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world, but this just it's just not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen with Bruce Arians being a part of that organization. And if they don't collapse this week, they're going to be in the playoffs. And I think they're a team that can be free and they're just not gonna They're not gonna do it.
If they have a first round exit in the playoffs, No, I don't think so. And their defense gives up thirty five points and they score thirty two points against U the Vikings of the Lions or whatever team, well, they would be a division winner still playing a wild card team.
Not happening with Bruce Arians in that building.
Okay, we'll say that that's the the really the only name on this list out of everybody that we're talking about, like everybody everybody expected us to talk about Shane Styke and Mike McCarthy, Gerrodmeo and you know, Doug Peterson out of all, Like, I think that's the that's the most interesting name. Like, oh, I never thought of that. That a lout of all the names that we talked about. So all right, cool, I'm gonna be quick about this.
Like I think I already mentioned this. I think Zach Taylor, Kyle Shanahan, and I'm also putting Brian Callahan's name in this. I think their jobs are safe. I don't think Callahan's gonna be a one and done. I really don't. I don't buy into Kyle Shanahan his job being a jeopardy in San fran even if there is some discontent there, I think him and John Lynch will just work together too well. And then Zach Taylor, I don't know what
they're gonna do. Like I was, I have some Bengals fans of my replies, which I'm surprised to see that I have Bengals fans of my replies saying that Zach Taylor does don't want to get rid of Luin and Rumo. I think you kind of have to at this point. So but I think there's their jobs are safe.
Ah, all right, that's an episode that was football. We'll see you on Friday for a little bit of a little bit of preview show. Thank you all for listening. Hope you have a happy new Year. We'll see you then. Until then, this is Football Today.